Speedwells in Fall

I don't remember the Royal Candles veronicas turning any kind of color in fall. This year they are an attractive golden yellow. I cut the long spent stalks back and cleaned up a bit and there were these pretty little mounds of clean, colorful foliage.

It must be the long warm fall weather, with only a few mornings that have hit below 32°. A strange season this year.

The little golden clumps look quite nice.

Should I plant more Royal Candles speedwells, perhaps in the circle garden? I might.

They bloom vividly in June, with that upright spikiness I need around the circle garden, although once they fade the spikes get lanky and need cutting back.

They have been workhorses in the kitchen courtyard garden, and are surprisingly nice even now in fall.

Little Red Jewels

The crabapple's leaves are all down now and the red crabs look like jewels all over the little tree. 

I'm still amazed that there are so many crabapples. Spring flowering was sparse, yet there are tons of fruits.

Very festive and holiday appropriate as Thanksgiving approaches. If we get snow for Christmas it will be perfect.

The fruits are tiny and intact, not yet falling or turning mushy. 

It seems they dry out and get dark and smaller as they age, so I'm hoping there won't be any kind of mess on the ground. 

When they fall I'll have to see what that does to the walkway and gravel below.

Or maybe late in the season when freezing has made them more palatable, the birds will eat some?

Lit Up Perfectly

The way a shaft of morning sun comes through the glass doors of the two way fireplace and lights up the plant on the living room table always amazes me.

Somehow it finds the plant and only the plant. Nothing else in the room is illuminated, just the green leaves all lit up and shining. 

On these November mornings it happens just as I am having coffee in the red recliner, around 7:15 a.m. The timing, the light, the specific way just that one thing shines, is just striking.

It's a plastic Swedish ivy that I've had for decades. I packed it and moved it here. It fits perfectly into the white resin cylinder container that Hope made us a few years ago. 

And it sits perfectly on the glass table in a ray of morning sun that lights it up like it's alive. Wow.

Then, when the pot of ivy is no longer lit, the sun finds the lemon tree and lights that up.

Pretty spectacular.

Some Color

There's some real color in the bush clematis by the garage door this year. A bright golden yellow.

We're still only flirting with freezing temperatures at night. Every once in a while -- like this morning -- it gets down to 28 - 30 degrees. A freeze, but a light one and not for too long. I've unhooked the hoses but haven't brought them in.

Then the mornings go back up to high 30s and into the 40s for several days. 

Afternoons are pleasant.

But the vine on the back fence browned up long ago, and now the crabapple and the redbud are mostly bare. The aspens and the cottonwood leaves are about 3/4 down too. 

The Japanese maple and the plumbagos are deep scarlet red, mostly smothered by fallen cottonwood leaves, but still visible. The Texas betony and veronicas behind, and the columbines behind those, stay green.

The Wood's rose, just planted this year, is still a tall awkward shape. It's turning golden, and that's a nice complement to the reds nearby.

And here's some dramatic color captured last night at dinner time.

Autumn is well underway.

Salvia Greggii Radio Red

I got more Radio Red salvias at Newman's. 

I went in looking for a mum for the urn in front, but it's too late in the season. But they had a table full of Radio Red greggii salvias, and I've had that on my list to get more of next year.

It's my favorite red salvia, redder than Furman's Red, bigger, glossier leaves than the Salvia greggii (Hot Lips I think) I got at Lowe's and more compact than Windwalker Red (which is actually S. darcyi x microphylla, not a greggii variety)

So I got several and plopped one in its nursery pot in the urn.

I have two that are in the kitchen courtyard. None of the pots I overwintered survived, but the two in the ground did.

I want two more to put in pots at the deck -- the Windwalker Red really got too big and lanky in a pot there.

And one to plant in the circle garden where the annual Strawberry Fields gomphrena was -- that never grew into much of anything.

It's too late to plant one in the circle garden, so all four that I just got will go in the garage when hard cold hits.

They are hardy to zone 7 and we are supposed to be 7 now, although I think we're right at the edge if not solidly in a colder winter zone.

But we'll see if these four new Radio Reds make it.

Mixed Flowers in the Center

My plan is to overwinter the David Verity cuphea so I can plant it out, mature and full, in the white bowl next spring. 

I may rethink that.

I might like a mix of sunny perennials and annuals all together, creating a real focal point of color and form for the center of the circle.

If done right all the plants would fill the bowl in a way the cuphea just didn't.

I rarely do mixed flower containers unless I get some already planted up from the nursery. But I'd try 

• Profusion zinnias
• A division of the blue carpet sedum I have
• Vivid blue lobelia
• Petunias and pansies of course 

. . . just a random mix of things.

I liked the cuphea well enough, but the Vermillionaire plant was a simple look.

I like David Verity better, and if I can winter it and keep it full looking, that's still an option for the bowl. 

If not, a colorful profusion of sunny flowers would be better and I'd put David Verity back in the blue container behind the deck. It did well there.

(I've since taken the Vermillionaire out. It looked fine after one morning this week that hit 26 degrees, but a couple days after that it was clear it was gone. The flowers were still bright, but the foliage had shriveled.)

26 Degrees

The first freeze of the season. It was 26 degrees overnight. 

But everything survived nicely, even the annual lobelia and the Profusion zinnias. The Vermillionaire cuphea is fine. I did bring the David Verity cuphea into the house after cutting it down as I get ready for winter.

The day dawned cold but still, and the hot sun quickly made things pleasant. A lovely fresh feeling day with quiet sunshine and cool air.

There are no more freezing nights for the next 10 days. Just warm days of sunshine in the 50s and 60s with little wind and overnight temps above 32.

I had unhooked the hoses but did not drain them or bring them into the garage. Now I'll have to hook them back up to do chores and water some things over the next weeks.

Cutting Back

I don't think I can bring the David Verity cuphea into the house to winter over as I planned unless I cut it way back. It's just too big and leggy. I tried it in the bathroom and in front of the sliders where winter sun would be good for it. But it's too much.

I did find an article that says potted cuphea can be brought inside, but to cut it back first. So I did, although I hated to sacrifice all the pretty flowers it was still putting out.

The only flirtation with overnight temperatures of 25° - 29° is one night next week, and then it rebounds to above freezing nights and beautiful warm days well into early November!

Will that one overnight freeze be enough to zap the cuphea? 

Assuming it might, I cut it down to just a few leaves at the base of the stems and put it next to to my laundry hamper in my bedroom.

It had gotten so leggy because I watered it too much. 

I did the same with the potted Windwalker Red salvia and the Black Adder agastache. Their leaves got so shriveled in the summer sun if I did not water, but the extra moisture made them tall and spindly.

The salvia was actually cut back in summer and it regrew quickly into tall stalks with vivid blooms at the tips.

I need to figure out how to keep these potted plants happy without over watering. 

The red salvia may go in the ground next spring, in a spot where there is no emitter. It needs water to flower well, and maybe I can keep it hose watered but leave it drier in between waterings.

Despite the continued lovely weather, I did cut back the tickseed that had gotten raggy looking, to get ready to put it in the garage. 

Still full and green and even putting out a few flowers, but it was time. What a performer it was all summer long, constantly in full bloom. 

In spring I will divide it and use the divisions in other locations. Maybe in pots, maybe I'll put one in the ground.

The Blue Ice amsonias are a nice yellow now in the corner by the guest room window. 

They are a cool, lemony yellow, bright and eye catching. I can't wait for the new ones I just planted to fill out around the circle garden and produce this elegant foliage and color in fall. It will take a good 3 to 4 years, though.

Some trees have lost leaves, the Virginia creeper is brown and kaput, but it's still so warm and beautiful.